Cut From a Different Cloth

For as long as I can remember I have been a loner.

I did not intend for it to be that way, or want it, really. I mean, what kid doesn't want friends, after all? A tribe. A community.

Someone to relate to.

During the confusing years of my adolescence, I spent much of my social time trying to fit into different groups at school. They each had something that attracted me, whether it be the energy and physical toughness of sports or the child-like wander of sculpting clay, but they did not provide that connection that I longed for. Even when I was fully immersed in group activity or a spicy discussion, I felt like an outsider looking in. I could not understand why I was not falling into an archetype. An imposter.

The puzzle piece jammed to fit, because you so desperately want to finish.

I did not understand, then, that I can be the connection, the inspiration, and source.

That it is okay to be that, and more, not only to and for myself but for others as well. And it was then that I discovered fashion design: the art of outfitting. Adorning the body with unique designs that spring from my imagination and materialize before my eyes due to the work of my own hands has been the most rewarding and impassioning experience of my life.

If you’ve ever been truly lost in the dark, with no reception, no concept of which way you should go or what time of day it is then you know what a relief it is when to finally arrive on your street.

You’ve made it home.

Fashion design has allowed me to create happiness by giving me the tools to paint what the world looks like for me. Styling myself when I get dressed in the morning is the ultimate form of self-expression, especially when the garments are by my own design. I can change my clothes and my style based on how I feel that day, and I dress so that I can express those things without having to use words. I design unique garments so that my outfit can speak for me.

That’s what fashion is- self expression.

It speaks for itself.

Being able to make such a powerful statement without using any words is incredible to me. To this day, after sewing for 10 years, I am still astonished that I can create things in this way. That I can inch a tiny concept though the design process, the idea coming to life a little more with each step. From fabric selection to pattern making to cut and sew, to seeing the look on a client’s face when they “ OMG I love it!”

It happens because I make it sew. (a crafty little pun for the nerds of us)

When I discovered the craft and started to understand what it really was, you couldn’t tell me anything else. It is that thing that I have to do even if I am not trying to. Even when I am not getting paid to do it. My eye has become a lens that soaks up inspiration from the everyday and transforms it into something beautiful. I pull most of my inspiration from nature and architecture and finding balance between the two. Traveling and vising cities like Miami and New York give me new perspectives on what the juxtaposition between organic nature and structure looks like for those who live there. An ordinary personal might see a graffiti ridden old bridge where I see a striking overpass, bold in color and materials, that overtime has been worn down making way for vibrant colored petals to blossom from the cracks. Separately, they may be taken for granted as an everyday sight, but something about the 2 opposites together in symbiosis inspires me and encourages me to continue to see the good everywhere.

The beauty.

The art of design combine elements of math and geometry, chemistry, texture, layer, and color- all of which I love. With the considerations spanning so wide, it is no wonder that beautiful creations in the fashion world continue to have such a huge impact. It’s visual, it’s emotional, and yet it also exists in the physical realm and has utilitarian purposes. Clothes are meant to be worn with a purpose, but

sometimes the purpose isn’t in the usefulness of the item as you are wearing it

so much as it is about the feeling that you get

and that you give

when you are in the garment.